Alikreukel, jou lekker ding! Meaty like clams and as sweet as oysters, these hard-shelled molluscs are known by an array of names, so take your pick: olly crock, alikreukel, giant periwinkle or the South African turban. If you want to be fancy, it’s Turbo sarmaticus.
They grow en masse on West Coast shores, so inhabitants fancied them for the pot of course. Their simple West Coast salad recipe was mixing the cooked flesh of these protein-, copper- and zinc-rich critters with chopped onion and cubed boiled potatoes, adding vinegar, salt and pepper as a dressing. But let’s get a bit more adventurous here.
OLLY CROCK STARTER
Ingredients: 1 kg minced alikreukel; juice of ½ lemon; 1 tsp thyme; 2 cloves garlic, chopped; 1 onion, finely chopped; lemongrass; olive oil; salt and pepper; ½ cup cream.
Rinse the alikreukels thoroughly. Place them in boiling water for 15 – 20 minutes until loose in their shells. Poke the meat with a skewer to pull it out of the shell. Remove and discard the intestine from the alikreukel’s muscular ‘foot’. Rinse in clean water and mince the meat.
Fry onion until soft. Add minced alikreukel, garlic, thyme and lemongrass and fry for another two minutes. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat. Stir in the cream and serve on a bed of couscous.
Photo: tahnhskitchen.com
